Nick Dukas ‘One & Forever Love’ – CD Review

NICK DUKAS coverNick Dukas takes standard swing jazz and does it one better. He offers a cleverly creative twist on One & Forever Love by incorporating big band bravado with popular early rock & roll classics that’ll have you tap dancing down memory lane as you hum along with his warm, well-tempered voice. The end product is a new and unique hybrid sound. Of the eleven songs on his album two are original tunes co-authored by Dukas and the other nine are a collection of classic hits by The Ink Spots, Dean Martin, Elvis, Bobby Darin, Dion, Bobby Rydell, and even Carlos Santana.

With at least twenty musicians participating in the recording of One & Forever Love, and most notably featuring Bobby G. Summers who was Al Green’s musical director for a number of years, Nick is able to offer a wide spectrum of sounds to support his varied vocal styling. The instrumental array is as dazzling as the well arranged song selection.

The opening track, Mr. Moon (Take It Away), is one of the two aforementioned originals. It’s a tight little duet with Jennifer Day Morrison a female singer and backed by a well directed horn section, piano, guitar, drums and upright bass that clocks in at a little over three minutes. There’s no wonder that this one was designated the first radio single off the album. liveb&w

Sway, a prior hit for both crooner Dean Martin, and rocker Bobby Rydell, follows. Tanya Lewis provides some great, layered backing vocals here while Jeff Smick of The Florida Orchestra lays down a sweeping string performance on violin. I’m sure both Bobby and Dean would’ve been proud of what Dukas has done to their song. The same can be said of his rendering of Volare, which appears later on this LP.

The second original composition is the title track, One & Forever Love. With a cascading Mantovani like light orchestra string section and a glistening glockenspiel on top of Bobby Summer’s tasteful piano playing this, in my humble opinion, could be the second single to come off of this solid compilation of music. Nick’s voice is nothing less than spun silk on this well written ballad.

Love Came to Me is another borrowed ditty from Dion’s doo-wop days. Dukas stays faithful to the genre with a plentiful cornucopia of “shoo-wops”, “doity doit doit doo doos”, “ooh ooh oohs” and “ditty-ditties” from beginning to end. If you close your eyes you can almost hear the rustle of the bobbysoxer’s poodle skirts while walking by the boys in the Bronx harmonizing on some street corner in a long-lost 1950s dream.

It’s nice to have a son who plays guitar, especially when you tackle Carlos Santana’s epic Black Magic Woman. Jason Dukas was called upon here (as well as on My Pledge of Love later on) to help his dad Nick with this one. Also on board again is Mr. Summers on keyboards. Together they capture the fiery Latin flavor of Santana’s show stopping 1969 performance at Woodstock of this chart topping wonder.

If you’re looking for the kind of sound you’d hear in a smoky New Orleans nightclub during the early 1960s then look no farther than to Love You So, (originally recorded by the now sadly forgotten Ron Holden). The cha-cha-cha rhythm is infectious and the performance here within delivered by Mr. Dukas et al. is deftly done.

Going all the way back to the 1930s and The Ink Spots, but also cover by Elvis Presley in the 1960s, is That’s When Your Heartache Begins. With a standout saxophone solo that takes the place of standard spoken word section of this sweet heartbreaker don’t be surprised if a tear or two rolls down your cheek before the closing notes.

Nick-Dukas-Music-Mr.-Moon-300x208Wrapping it up is the boogie-woogie masterpiece, Queen of the Hop. Originally released in 1958 by the legendary Bobby Darrin, Nick Dukas will have you up and dancing at the hop with this one. It’s the perfect ending to the time machine like musical travels shared on One & Forever Love.

The CD was released to stores nationwide in April, 2015 (released on the CND record label, and distributed by KES Music & Video Distribution, with promotion & marketing by National Marketing Advertising & Promotions/Chicago IL). In the meantime you can keep up with Nick and his gang at: http://nickdukasmusic.com.

Author: Ralph White